I said yesterday I would take about the different kinds of romance plots this week. When I started talking about plots I gave a ‘boringggg’ plot as an example of a story line. Now I want to explain why that is ‘boringgg’ and why and sight one of the most often used contemporary romance plots. Remember, this is Valentine Blog Hop week. It will all be about romance. Later we’ll worry about character.

A boring plot is a plot without a problem. A good plot is a story where the protagonist (hero or heroine in romance) has problems, the more the better. If it’s going to have a happy ending then those problems have to be fixed. Take a look at Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. The heroine has a problem. To win the hero the heroine must have the problem solved. And Voila! Happy Ending. And there should be a HEA (Happy Ever After or at least for the moment) in a true Romance.

Now, one of the most often used romance plots. The hidden baby plot. How many Contemporary romances have the hero and the heroine meeting, being attracted to each other, spending time together, and while they are together the heroine finds out the hero doesn’t like children, never wants to marry, has a disease he could pass on the children, refuses to have an heir for whatever reason. In other words, the worst thing that can happen is for the heroine to discover she is going to have his child. So she disappears. When they meet again, he discovers he’s fathered a child and the problems eventually get solved, ending in a HEA. There you have it, a plot with problems. How the problems get solved form the plot and it is no longer a ‘boringgg’ plot. I would caution using this one for its been done a lot. As I said, one of the most used plots. But there are other romance plots and we’ll look at another one tomorrow.

Don’t forget to comment for a chance to win a copy of my short story for your e-reader and register for the Kindle paperwhite which is the grand prize for this hop. All the URL’s are on my last blog.

Allison Knight

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About allisonknight2014

I write historical, gothic and contemporary romance. After all, after 53 years of marriage to a great guy, I do know a bit about romance. I'm a retired teacher and no, I didn't teach English, have children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. I love to cook and hate to clean. Somehow, the writing satisfies both. Cooking up romance keeps me from cleaning!